TVNZ's Sixty Minutes 6 June 2001

[postscript]

At last reconnecting, hadn't realised I had been away for so long, took awhile to find myself. Well, here is what `i posted on Facebook in response to that news.

Thank you everyone involved in this effort. Superb. Had known of it and of course experienced in different ways over time the sort of things shown in it, nice to see the original.

It brings back so many similar memories. I was driving on the M1 when I first heard her. There had obviously been introductory blurb that I had missed and so no after chat about her, the station simply passed on to the next disk. All I could do was make a note of the time for when I could look up Classic FM's play time schedule and note her name. My first chance meeting was a London concert but the train drivers were being problematical and I could not stay as late as it seemed would be required. I later learned the delay was due to directors of New Zealand Air closeting her in her dressing room to discuss special rates in return for her advertising potential.

I realise now that in the front line of the stage door fans were the people I have now come to know as friends and who are the mainstay behind HWI. Thank you for the continuity all your hard work. Over time that of course developed into meeting with Hayley in diverse circumstances and often chatting with her mother Jill while waiting for Hayley at many concerts which I used as an excuse for weekends away, getting to know my own country considerably better! Unfortunately due to her change of schedule, I couldn't do the same across NZ as I originally intended.

Cheers for now

Peter S.

[Sing]

Thank you so much Dave and Belinda! Lovely piece of history there

[Libby]

I honestly don't think she'll even notice, Martin.

I couldn't spot anyone I thought looked like Sophie B, just Sophie W. I saw a few different people for maybe 2 seconds at a time, and then since it moved on so fast, I had to try to look at everyone. And in so doing, I could barely listen to what was being said. LOL It was certainly interesting to hear Happy Birthday sung in very heavy Kiwi accents. Never heard that before!

[Richard]

I see the video has had 437 views on YouTube already!

Richard

[maya]

Thanks Dave for your efforts to revive the video. I enjoyed it very much and I was amazed at two items other than the contents.

One is the quality of the video. You mentioned it's from a VHS tape sent by Belinda. May be you prepared it well as you have dove fine for my videos sent from Japan in the past, but this one from Belinda was better than mine that were all recorded digitally. Belinda must had a very good VHS deck unit + your efforts. There are some minor saturation/over modulation problem at her dress (00:40) or strings (12:08) but this often happens among those different VHS deck units for the recording and the playing back. There is almost no head switching noise at the bottom of the screen. Did you trim it? I can see the noise at the final part of the video when the vertical jitter is only there.

The other is Hayley's strong accents. I only can catch 50% or less. May be because of my limited English ability, but I wonder how much you non-Kiwi can catch. The last time when I talked her in Japan, I had no problem understanding her. I still notice her Kiwi accents these days but she was changed a lot.

[gillette]

Nov 27, 2015 6:43:58 GMT maya said:

.


The other is Hayley's strong accents. I only can catch 50% or less. May be because of my limited English ability, but I wonder how much you non-Kiwi can catch. The last time when I talked her in Japan, I had no problem understanding her. I still notice her Kiwi accents these days but she was changed a lot.

Hi Maya,
I find much of that video very difficult to understand, not only Hayley, but the others , also. I have listened to it at least a dozen times, and parts of it I can only understand enough to just catch the drift of what is being said.
You are not alone!
BobS (from Boston area)

[cloudbusting.heights]

Interesting...I can understand everything just fine.

[gillette]

Nov 27, 2015 14:25:18 GMT cloudbusting.heights said:

Interesting...I can understand everything just fine.

Yes, Paige, interesting... Would like to hear what you are hearing! It is a long way from clear for me.
BobS

[Dave]

Nov 27, 2015 6:43:58 GMT maya said:

Thanks Dave for your efforts to revive the video. I enjoyed it very much and I was amazed at two items other than the contents.

One is the quality of the video. You mentioned it's from a VHS tape sent by Belinda. May be you prepared it well as you have dove fine for my videos sent from Japan in the past, but this one from Belinda was better than mine that were all recorded digitally. Belinda must had a very good VHS deck unit + your efforts. There are some minor saturation/over modulation problem at her dress (00:40) or strings (12:08) but this often happens among those different VHS deck units for the recording and the playing back. There is almost no head switching noise at the bottom of the screen. Did you trim it? I can see the noise at the final part of the video when the vertical jitter is only there.

The other is Hayley's strong accents. I only can catch 50% or less. May be because of my limited English ability, but I wonder how much you non-Kiwi can catch. The last time when I talked her in Japan, I had no problem understanding her. I still notice her Kiwi accents these days but she was changed a lot.

Hi Maya,

Yes I trimmed the switching noise at the bottom, as some people find that distracting. I have limited control options on my old VHS unit - I kept two in fact, neither of which I had used for several years until the summer of this year when I had a special request from a relative, to rescue her old family 'baby' tapes - they were going mouldy and I had a great deal of trouble with them but did it successfully in the end. Belinda's tape has one more fairly good quality interview on it, this was also recorded in standard play and I hope to publish it next week. There are a couple of poor quality sections that were recorded at Long Play quality and the audio is barely audible so I don't know yet if I can restore them sufficiently for publication, but I will try.

Now, the NZ accents! It didn't cross my mind that some people would have trouble understanding Hayley's native Kiwi accent because it is all clear to me - but if you, and especially some of the native English speakers in the States are missing parts of it, perhaps I should add subtitles? Never done that before but I am willing to try, if the demand is there, and when I get enough spare time!

Cheers, Dave

[Libby]

If I had trouble hearing anything it was probably more due to the sound quality (just a bit muffled), not just the accents. The only one I remember having trouble with was that one man they were talking to with glasses; I had no clue who he was.

Now, I watched an internet video of some British comedian, and while I understood most of it, he spoke in kind of a high-pitched voice, and the combination of that and his British accent made it hard to catch every word. That's the only problem I have with accents; if there's anything hindering the audibility of the person speaking, then the accent is hard to understand. If the sound is good, then there's usually no problem.

[gillette]

Nov 28, 2015 4:09:18 GMT Libby said:

If I had trouble hearing anything it was probably more due to the sound quality (just a bit muffled), not just the accents. The only one I remember having trouble with was that one man they were talking to with glasses; I had no clue who he was.

Now, I watched an internet video of some British comedian, and while I understood most of it, he spoke in kind of a high-pitched voice, and the combination of that and his British accent made it hard to catch every word. That's the only problem I have with accents; if there's anything hindering the audibility of the person speaking, then the accent is hard to understand. If the sound is good, then there's usually no problem.

Hi,
Interesting observations above.
Gerald and Jill were nearly totally lost on me.
Gray Bartlett (the man with the glasses to whom I believe you were referring) was a tough listen for me, too.
I had not a bit of difficulty whatsoever with the fellow who was a Hollywood agent, mentioning Barbra Streisand.
Incidentally, that Gray Bartlett was the person instrumental in establishing Hayley in New Zealand, and who was quite bent out of shape when he didn't get to manage her when she went international.
BobS

[cloudbusting.heights]

I could understand everything just fine, for the most part. Gray Bartlett was just a little tough to understand because he didn't seem to put the endings on his words. I listened to the video again and it was like listening to the TV while in another room...if that makes sense.

But other than that it was fine. I just had to focus more on what was being said at times. But I watch a lot of British period dramas so, I don't know if that has helped me understand other accents or not. (Now the priest at our church is from India and I'm lucky to understand 50% of what he says).

[Libby]

Yes, that does make sense. It could also be described as a video taken of your TV playing the video. Maybe not quite that bad, though, but a similar sound.

Bob, I think I may have missed some of what Gerald and Jill said as well. I know I understood everything Hayley said, though, so that's good, right?

[martindn]

Well, I have to say that I had no trouble at all understanding any of them. The main thing that is different about the NZ accent is the vowel sounds. But Enlish is I'm told mostly understood from the consonants, so if you get the vowels wrong it doesn't matter too much (unlike e.g. French, where getting the vowels wrong means you won't be understood). Not sure that applies to all English listeners though, maybe in America people listen more for the vowels than they do in England. Or perhaps we are used to a broader range of accents over here. Perhaps the most difficult for me is broad Glaswegian...



But I could even understand most of that....

Martin D

[gillette]

Nov 29, 2015 4:32:01 GMT Libby said:

I know I understood everything Hayley said, though, so that's good, right?

Right!